2831 Tasting Notes

Thanks to Sil for passing on a bit of this one. I’m actually pleasantly surprised – the roasty, nutty, slighty smoky (?) oolong base is quite nice here, and the addition of the pomegranate adds a nice, full fruitiness to it, making for a very enjoyable cup. I think I’d actually quite enjoy the base tea by itself, but the extra fruit flavouring adds a great extra dimension. I don’t think I’d necessarily identify it as pomegranate, but age may have diminished the flavour somewhat, so it’s tough to pinpoint the reason for that. Either way, I’m quite enjoying the cup, and glad that I have a scant cup’s worth left to have another day (not too distantly in the future, hopefully). However, I believe that my enjoyment of this cup is most likely more due to the base tea than anything, so it’s tough to justify the “VIT” price tag. However, now I know to scout out more da hong paos!

Another tea I drank yesterday at work. Not too bad, as flavoured greens go – fairly realistic grape flavour, standard sencha green base. The flavour would be better on a different base IMO – perhaps an oolong? I oversteeped a bit for the first infusion, but the second was quite pleasant. Overall, not a tea I’d buy again, but a pleasant enough cup, although temperature and time are pretty critical.

Very meh about this tea. I think I may have oversteeped it a touch at work yesterday (last day of work, sigh), but it’s really quite unremarkable. I’m just really not a fan of most of Davidstea’s flavoured greens, for whatever reason. I do think it tastes champagne-like – peachy, grapey, fuzzy, but it’s really not for me.

Whew, I did actually write about this one before. (But I’ve had it like, 6 times, and probably only have one note…) Anyhow! Still love this tea, though I didn’t order more (I’m wary of stocking up on teas with coconut, since it seems to go off). Delicious raisiny, coconut, banana, chocolate. Very decadent, and good for a bunch of re-steeps because of the solid base.

Brewed this up a while back to bring on a car ride in a Timolino… not the best way to first try a tea, but it happened regardless. I was pretty impressed – I remember creaminess and fruitiness, and repeatedly picking this tea over the other 3 I had with me, until it was completely gone (and I had to drink the others. Sigh.) I obviously will have to write a better note later, where I have it in a mug, but based on that one experience, I added another half ounce to my Massive Butiki’s-Closing Order. I wish I’d known whether or not I should have bought more of it (or Butterscotch Mocha Candies), but I just haven’t tried them enough to really know. At least I’ll have a bit more, though, in case I love this one (which I’m worried I will).

Oh. Looks like I didn’t care for this one the first time around. Aaaaand I think I know why. Even with a 2.5 minute infusion, there’s astringency, and although there’s definitely a sweetness to the cup, it’s missing the chocolatey notes that I like in a black. That really does seem to be my critical factor as to whether or not I enjoy a black tea. (Also astringency.) It tastes like it would be a great breakfast tea for someone who enjoys a robust kick in the pants in the morning, but since I don’t enjoy that, it’s not for me. (Although that said, I am enjoying the sweet, somewhat golden raisiny lingering aftertaste post-sip.)

Thanks for some of this one Sil. I am reasonably unimpressed, but given a) the comments I read and b) the age of the tea, it sounds like there wasn’t a ton of flavour to begin with, and what was there is likely gone. It’s still not a bad cup of tea – less astringent than 52teas’ Almond Happiness, but to be fair, it also has less flavour. Ah well, not a big loss – I don’t seem to be a big fan of Sloane teas in general for whatever reason. Not rating out of fairness to the tea, but I’d guess it would garner around a 60 fresh, for me.

Sipdown! Oh man, this is still crazy delicious. I don’t care if there are a few piddly calories in here (there must be, it’s far too decadent not to have any). Black tea, nougat, deliciousness. I shall be getting more of this at some point. This and Creme Brûlée. Thanks again Cavo for sending some :)

Welp…. looks like I should have savoured this one when I had the chance. Flavour is falling flat now – there’s still a faint hint of flavour, but it’s mostly gone. Ah well, at least it means I won’t crave it! (Unlike Cashew Turtle… come, tears…)

Thanks again to mystery swapper! This tea is kind of a bust – tastes just like a rooibos cream to me. Seabuckthorn is pretty sour and astringent, and I’m not picking up any of that here. Probably for the best; although I wanted to try this tea, I’m not entirely sure I thought it would work anyhow. Kind of makes me think curdled… Anyhow, average rooibos cream, and that’s about it.

Haha no worries. With a cupboard your size, I am surprised it didn’t take longer until you got to them. And no you never sent anything back because I was sort of just passing along the teas and so I tossed in some samples once I was sending out the package.

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.